The tower with many flaws

While writing Tower of Babel, Robert T. Pennock was professor
of Philosophy of Science at the University of Texas at Austin.1
In the preface, Pennock states that he is a Quaker and claims the following about
his treatment of creationists within the book:

‘… although I will argue against creationism as a science and do what
I can to counter its divisive rhetoric, I do not mean to attack the sincerity of
intentions of creationist believers. Also, none of what I write should be taken
as an attack upon religion in general or Christianity in particular’ (p. xviii).

However, Pennock frequently ridicules the Bible
and is generally contemptuous when referring to creationists. His book has also
been warmly received by anti-creationists who are outright humanists.2,3

Tower of Babel is poorly written, rambling and long-winded (it is about
400 pages long). Some of the chapters have been based on articles written by the
author at different times (p. xvi.), but they have not been edited well. The author
often changes from one subject to another and then back to the first, so it is difficult
to give a non-repetitive summary of each chapter.

One of the main purposes of the book is to show that the creationist movement is
‘evolving’—new varieties are emerging, and all these varieties
are hostile to each other—hence the title of the book, taking the name ‘Babel’
in the sense of ‘babble.’ Also, the book seems to be an attempt to stem
the tide of creationism in the United States (where the movement is growing to alarming
proportions, according to Pennock), and to give reasons against the introduction
of the teaching of creation in the public schools.

Creation and evolution of the controversy

In Chapter 1 Pennock tries to prove that creationism is ‘evolving.’
He first gives his version of the history of creationism, including
biased accounts of the Scopes trial and other law cases.4

Pennock then describes ‘The New Creationists’ by painting the following
picture. There are factions in the ‘Tower of Creationism’: young earth
creationists (YECs) fight with old earth creationists (OECs), progressive creationists
(PCs), theistic evolutionists (TEs) and intelligent-design creationists (IDCs).
All have different views and cannot agree. There is a new medium—the internet,
and the use of videos. YECs are successful in promulgating their views through Fundamentalist
and Evangelical churches, and many students enter university primed to resist evolution.
Many creationists have acquired positions in colleges and universities and are leading
the attack from within. They work in tandem with campus Christian students groups.
Pennock concludes this discussion with:

‘The new attacks are against science as a way of knowing and here the defense
must be taken up on the philosophical side. The truth of nature and the nature of
truth: these are the issues’ (p. 42).

Pennock lumps together as creationists anyone who is anti-Darwinian, including scientists
who are either agnostics or are inclined to believe in some type of evolution. This
enables him to pick out peripheral views and hold them up to ridicule, and imply
that all creationists have these attitudes or beliefs.

Pennock also claims that creationists are continually invoking supernatural explanations
for everything (‘God of the Gaps’-type arguments). He repeatedly says
that creationism has nothing to do with science because it allows a supernatural
element.

He fails to note the distinction between normal (operational) science,
which deals only with repeatable, observable processes in the present,
and origins or historical science which can enable us to make
educated guesses about origins.5 There is a difference:
for example, the laws that govern the operation of the car were not those that made
the car in the first place. Creationists invoke the miraculous only for origins
science, not for operational science. In fact, the very basis of operational science
and ‘natural law’ was provided by a creationist framework.5

Evidence for evolution

Chapter 2 is a great disappointment for anyone expecting new compelling evidence
for evolution to be presented. A reviewer on the Amazon web site says:

‘I bought this book expecting to find state of the art arguments
supporting evolution and demolishing the opposition. But the arguments are weak
and have been made repeatedly by others.’6

While discussing proofs for evolution, Pennock makes the surprising statement: ‘It
is the great explanatory power of evolutionary theory—that it accounts for
so much data so well—that testifies to its truth’ (p. 54). This statement
seems to imply that scientific verification is not important. If this statement
were true, creationism would be valid, since it also explains things well. Whether
it appeals to supernaturalism would be irrelevant. Compare this also with a statement
Pennock makes in the next chapter: ‘Of course Popper was correct that science
should rule out all-purpose “explanations” …’ (p. 100).

We are told that the evidence for the age of the earth is ‘the precision and
strength of radiocarbon dating in combination with independent measures of ages
and other radioisotope methods’ (p. 78)!
Since when has radiocarbon dating been used to determine the age of the earth? Pennock
also ignores the many anomalies in the various dating methods7
and contradictions between them.8

In the section ‘Molecular Biology and the Genetic Code’ we find this
statement:

‘Protein molecules exhibit such tremendous variety and complexity in their
three-dimensional structure that it might make one despair of ever explaining their
origin, but it turns out at the more basic level that proteins are fairly simple’
(p. 87).

But of course the most complex objects are simple at their lowest levels—the
issue is not the simplicity of the base components but how they are put together.
By this ‘reasoning’, Pennock may as well dismiss the design in computer
programs because they ultimately comprise a sequence of just 1s and 0s!

The informational complexity of proteins/enzymes (and the DNA which encodes them)
is underlined by the difficulty molecular biologists have in designing from scratch
a functional enzyme that works effectively. They even have difficulty in developing
a reliable algorithm that predicts the 3-D shape of a given amino acid sequence.
Also, cells use chaperonin proteins to make sure they fold into the correct shape.

In the section ‘Darwinian Engineering, Computers and Simulations’, Pennock
discusses the use of ‘evolutionary computation’, such as computer programs
which help design airplane wings by generating ‘random’ variants and
selecting the most ‘fit’. Pennock lamely says:

‘… note that this is not a case of the computer scientist surreptitiously
programming in the design. Though the programmer does in many cases have some knowledge
in advance of the problem domain and includes this information to narrow the search
space, the program does not know in advance what will work. Often the programmer
is equally in the dark and is surprised by the design solution a genetic algorithm
comes up with’ (p. 105).

However, all the elements in a genetic algorithm are specified in the program. All
the parameters for each element are also specified. Only the order of joining together
of the elements or the values of the parameters is varied. In effect, the outcome
has no more information than the program that specifies the boundaries—so
the process is not analogous to evolution where new information supposedly arose
without any pre-programming.

Furthermore, refining the parameters for an existing structure, such as
a wing, is achievable by an iterative process, because no information is being added.
The given parameters are merely being adjusted for the optimum. Creationists do
not deny that mutations and natural selection could do this, but such natural processes
will never add new information, such as to account for the wing itself, or a feather,
the ATP-ase ‘motor’, etc.

The most frequent device which Pennock resorts to throughout the book is the ubiquitous
waving of the ‘magic wand’ of natural selection. We are given such gems
as: ‘By favouring lucky fit variants, [natural selection] increases their
representation in subsequent generations, and thereby makes the improbable more
probable’ (p. 97). Similarly, Dawkins talks
about ascending ‘Mt Improbable’ in a series of seemingly probable steps.
But the idea of small random mutations and natural
selection as a creative force, as well as Dawkinsian simulations, have been mathematically
refuted.9,10

In the same chapter, Social Darwinism with all its evil fruits is accounted for
by Pennock as simply a misunderstanding arising from colloquial uses of Spencer’s
catchphrase ‘survival of the fittest’ (p. 97)!

Variation within established complexity, such as these finches. beaks, offers no
explanation for the origin of complexity.

Pennock also outlines a study conducted over a period of time in the GalÃ¡pagos
Islands, where an increase in size and hardness of seeds caused smaller birds to
die off while stronger-beaked birds survived (p. 102). This is indeed a good example
of natural selection operating. But according to Pennock, creationists criticize
this example simply because they are ‘“unimpressed” by such minor
variants’ (p. 103). But the main point is not small vs. large, but whether
new genetic information arose. Here, natural selection sorted out pre-existing genetic
information into separate populations, by eliminating different fractions of the
information from the different populations.

In fact, the rapid speciation of the finches (200 years) is good evidence for the
biblical creation model. Critics doubt that all of today’s species could have
fitted on the Ark. However, the Ark would have
needed only about 8,000 kinds of land vertebrate animals, which would be sufficient
to produce the wide variety of species we have today.11
Darwin’s finches show that it need not take very long for new ‘species’
to arise..12

Pennock also criticizes the view often presented by creationists that if we tell
people that they are descended from animals, then they will behave like animals.
Certainly, the real reason man lives wickedly or violently is his corrupt sinful
nature. But the argument usually presented by creationists is: if we tell people
that they are descended from animals (or pond scum), then they will assume that
there is nothing more to human life than the basic animal activities such as eating
and drinking, and there is thus no spiritual or moral dimension to man.

Tower of Babel

Chapter 3 is the key chapter of the book. According to Pennock, scientists are becoming
frustrated in debates with creationists because the audiences are mostly pro-creation.
The first reason he gives for this is that the audiences are ignorant and are unable
to evaluate the arguments adequately (p. 119)! The second and more important reason,
which he frequently repeats, is that ‘many people are predisposed to reject
the distasteful idea that we humans evolved from ape-like ancestors’ (p. 119).
If Pennock really believes that this is the main reason creationists reject evolution,
then he is greatly deluded!

Pennock suggests that perhaps if creationists were introduced to evolution in a
context that was neutral they might be more receptive—so he introduces the
‘evolution of languages’. Pennock states that if we believe in the ‘evolution
of languages’, then we should also believe in biological evolution. Of course,
the word ‘evolution’ is being used here in an extremely loose way. ‘Development’
is a less loaded or controversial word than ‘evolution’ to describe
the history of languages. In another paper,
The development of languages is nothing like biological evolution, I analyze
the comparison of the development of languages with biological evolution in detail,
with explicit reference to some of the main claims of Pennock.13
In this book review I will just note some points about Pennock’s treatment
of the subject.

Pennock outlines William Jones’ famous proposal of a common source (later
called Indo-European) for Sanskrit, Latin and Greek, and other European languages.
He makes the absurd claim that Jones here introduced the revolutionary idea that
languages change over time and that this was ‘… a radical break from
the traditional, Christian view that languages, divinely created, were immutable
…’ (p. 134). But no-one, whether
Christian or not, has ever believed that languages are immutable! For example, the
Romans supposed that Latin had developed from Greek, and around 1500, several scholars
proposed that French, Italian and Spanish had developed from Latin.14
Even the fact that the Romance languages had developed from the spoken Vulgar Latin
instead of the literary Classical Latin was noted by the scholar B. Aldrete in 1606.15 For a long time, many scholars also believed that
Greek had developed from Hebrew, and although there were many similarly ridiculous
theories, no one ever suggested that languages were immutable.

Pennock at the same time holds creationists up to ridicule by saying that they believe
in ‘immutability of species’. One must really wonder if he has ever
bothered to study what he attacks. Right from the inception of the modern creationist
movement, creationists have repudiated fixity of the species, and even pointed out
that rapid speciation within a kind is good support for the creation model.12

The Lord’s Prayer, as printed in the original, 1611 King James Version (left),
and the 1960 New American Standard Bible (right). Contrary to what Pennock claims,
the development of language is nothing like biological evolution.

To supposedly convince creationists of the great changes which have happened within
languages (which no one disputes!), Pennock quotes the beginning of the Lord’s
Prayer in five English versions ranging from the present back to AD 1000, and also
a 4th century Latin version (p. 130). Pennock’s observations on
the differences between the versions are very sloppy and misleading. He correctly
notes the progressive differences between the English versions, but then adds:

‘Where does one language leave off and the next begin? Kinship terms are among
the words most highly resistant to major change, as we see above in the variations
of the word “father”. The transition from the Latin reflects a regular
transformation …’ (p. 131).

But there was no transition from the Latin version to the English version—most
of the words in these versions are in fact unrelated! English is not descended from
Latin (which Pennock’s words seem to imply), but these languages share a common
source. He does not explain at all the proper reason for the similarity between
the few common words which are related (such as father/pater).

After describing the background history concerning languages and his main argument
comparing languages with biological evolution, Pennock writes: ‘In the remaining
sections of this chapter I will continue to draw out the parallels between linguistics
and biology’. However, the long sections ‘Micro- and Macroevolution’
and ‘God of the Gaps’, which follow, contain various convoluted discussions
concerning biological evolution with no comparison with languages at all! This is
a good example of the rambling structure of the book. In the middle
of the ‘God of the Gaps’ section (p. 169), Pennock launches into a criticism
of Michael Behe’s ‘groundhogs crossing the Schuylkill Expressway’
illustration.16 But Pennock then extends this illustration
to a possible explanation of the Cambrian explosion: ‘… a reasonable
explanation is that the crossing was made somewhere else, at a different stretch
of the highway, perhaps back on that rural road and then through quiet back alleys,
where the lanes were fewer and narrower’ (p. 171). Does Pennock’s metaphor
here have any meaning?

Of naturalism and negativity

Chapter 4 deals with philosophy. This chapter and the following two are mainly an
attack on Phillip Johnson, who comes across as the arch-enemy. Indeed, Johnson is
presented as the leader of modern creationists (p. 184). Most of the chapter consists
of criticisms of Johnson’s writings on naturalism and the philosophy of science.
This chapter is difficult to read, and it is often not clear what Pennock’s
argument is.

Pennock advocates ‘methodological naturalism’ and says that ‘tentative
substantive claims the methodological naturalist makes are always open to revision
or abandonment on the basis of new, countervailing evidence’ (p. 191). He
also claims that ‘science does not affirm naturalism as a substantive ontological
claim but rather as a methodological assumption’ (p. 194). Michael Behe, in
his review of this book, summarizes Pennock’s view as follows:

‘… design violates “methodological naturalism”,
which means roughly that science must act as though the universe were a closed system
of cause and effect, whether it really is or not.’17

An amusing quote from this chapter is: ‘… so far we do not have a single
case of intelligent creation of life; rather our universal experience to date is
that only unintelligent material processes do so’ (p. 203). Of course he doesn’t
describe in detail our experience of this ‘fact’!

Chariots of the gods

In Chapter 5 Pennock attacks the arguments of creationists of various kinds. He
starts with criticisms of creationists for their treatment of the ‘Paluxy
man-tracks’ and the amount of dust on the moon. As usual, Pennock ignores
the fact that creationists themselves have criticized these arguments.

The two arrangements of photoreceptors. The arrows indicate the direction of incident
light. The inverted retina, contrary to evolutionists’ accusations of imperfections,
exhibits remarkable design features.

The bulk of the chapter is devoted to criticisms of the intelligent design argument.
Pennock claims that if life is the result of intelligent creation, ‘then it
looks as though the conclusion we should draw is that we were designed and created
by intelligent extraterrestrials’ (p. 235). He then goes into an elaborate
description of Raëlism, a French movement
started in the 1970s, and now worldwide, which teaches that alien scientists called
‘Elohim’ created the world. He likens Raëlism to creationism, in
order no doubt to hold creationists up to ridicule again. He also has a long discussion
concerning imperfections, including quotes from Stephen Jay Gould, but he doesn’t
mention at all the critically important issue of the biblical Fall, and the curse
imposed upon the earth. He also fails to realize
that many accusations of imperfection are really the result of ignorance of the
true function, including Gould’s favourite panda’s thumb18
and the ‘backwardly wired’ retina.19

Pennock discusses Fred Hoyle’s calculations on the probability of getting
the exact sequence of amino acids for a protein at random. He claims that this is
simply a misunderstanding of ‘cumulative selection’. But he fails to
realize that Hoyle was dealing with the origin of the first self-reproducing cell,
and that selection is differential reproduction, so it cannot explain the origin
of the first reproductive machinery.

Having made this blunder, Pennock compares this with Dawkins’
infamous ‘weasel’ computer demonstration.20
Pennock notes that the main criticism of such computer demonstrations is that human
intelligence designs the computer algorithm and that the targets are predetermined.
He dismisses this in an incredibly simplistic way by saying that the point is just
to show the power of cumulative selection, whether intelligence is used or not (p.
261). But it’s surely illegitimate to
use a goal directed algorithm to illustrate a process that allegedly has no goal!21 Also, the algorithm is set up so that it just
can’t avoid reaching the goal.22

Concerning Behe’s arguments on irreducible complexity, Pennock cuts the Gordian
knot by saying that we don’t know enough of the systems to be able to say
that all their functions are necessary. But in his review of this
book, Behe himself states that ‘several of these systems I discussed have
been well understood for forty years’!23

Deus ex machina

Chapter 6 contains further discussions on supernaturalism and philosophy. Pennock
gives a history of supernatural theories (much of which are pagan and irrelevant
to creationism), and Johnson is again copiously criticized.

Here is a gem from this chapter: ‘Science is godless in the same way that
plumbing is godless’ (p. 282). But science must have some metaphysical dimension
because Pennock had a chair in the Philosophy of Science while writing this book!
When a chair of the Philosophy of Plumbing is established (or when leading plumbers
use their profession to promote atheism as leading evolutionists do), we’ll
consider taking this statement seriously. (We also assume that by ‘godless’
he means unrelated to religion, which is not the usual meaning of the word.)

Burning science at the stake

In Chapter 7, Pennock tries to calm the fears of those who see evolution as evil.
Yet again, Johnson’s writings on this subject are the main target of Pennock’s
criticisms. Pennock reassures readers that evolution does not imply that God does
not exist and that scientific naturalism is not atheism.

He claims that the world is full of people with lives that are meaningful, without
any need to believe in God. But this depends of course on your definition. If life
itself is an accident, and there is nothing after death, life does seem rather meaningless
to the thoughtful.

In this chapter Pennock states that Johnson and other creationists have the view
that moral value comes from God’s commands: something is right (like loving
another) only if God commands it, while if God were to command us to hate one another
then that would be right. This ignores the biblical view that God’s commands
proceed from His holy nature; they are not just arbitrary products of His will,
unlike the capricious commands of pagan deities.

Babel in the schools

Chapter 8 is concerned with the issue of teaching creation or evolution in schools.
The position of the US Constitution, i.e. the separation of church and state, and
the prohibition of religious education in the public schools has made the perceived
problem a peculiarity of the American system.

Pennock again presents some absurdities, for example, that students who have learnt
biblical or creationist materials believe that men have one less rib than women
(p. 370). But if Pennock really believes the Bible teaches this,
he must be a closet Lamarckian. Conversely, creationists have pointed out the fallacies
of this.24

Pennock’s main argument is that creationism is a private religious belief
while science is a public issue, so creationism should not be taught in schools
as science. Pennock here charges creationists with deceitful tactics when he suggests
that ‘Creationist “stealth candidates” run for school boards and
reveal their agenda only once elected’ (p. 344). Compare this with Pennock’s
statement concerning the motives of creationists quoted at the beginning of this
review.

Pennock also gives his views on the ‘American democratic ideal’ and
the US constitution. I believe that any bearing the US constitution has on the subject
is really to do with religious education in general, and not creationism per se.

Conclusion

Creationists should be encouraged by the fact that this book has been written. Pennock
says that at first he had only an academic interest in the creationist movement,
but now realizes that it is growing fast and is a threat to the establishment. His
main concern is to prevent the teaching of creationism in the public schools of
the United States.

A useful outcome from this book would be that if creationists who read the book
find valid criticisms, they could then correct any relevant errors (though it requires
a lot of endurance to get through the second half of the book).

Since the book is poorly written, and aimed at a more academic audience, it is unlikely
to make much impact on the general public. As it does not present any substantially
new arguments for evolution or against creationism, it should not be considered
as a threat to creationists. The fact that a large proportion of the book is aimed
at Phillip Johnson and Michael Behe seems to suggest that their writings are gaining
influence, but perhaps these advocates of intelligent design will be increasingly
confused with biblical creationists in the future.

The comparison of the development of languages with biological evolution is not
new, but perhaps it will be promoted further by other evolutionists in the near
future because of the significant emphasis placed on it in this book.

References

Pennock is now Assistant Professor of Philosophy at The College
of New Jersey (April 2000). Return to text.

Scott, E.C., Creationism evolves, Scientific American281(2):76–78. Eugenie Scott is the executive director of
the National Center for Science Education, an organization which has little to do
with real science like physics, chemistry or even experimental biology. Rather,
it is totally devoted to promoting evolution. Scott has won secular humanist awards
for her anti-creationist efforts. Return to text.

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